Streetwise

Why the Market Will Ignore Earnings Growth

Corporate earnings are improving, but the market is more focused on the Federal Reserve.

Sometimes, Wall Street can surprise you with its restraint. Hollywood wants you to believe that grown men will fall for their operating system just because it purrs in the voice of Scarlett Johansson. Chen Guangbiao, the Chinese tycoon who wants to buy the New York Times, regales you with song at press conferences to demonstrate that he is China's most charismatic philanthropist, moral leader, and most influential person (just some of the titles listed on his business card). Even our weather is beyond belief. Yet, Wall Street's vocationally bullish forecasters only want to convince you that 2014 might be volatile,...